VANCOUVER (CUP) – Two amendments have been made to the BC student loan program that look to take the pressure off underage applicants or those facing financial hardship.
The changes were made to comply with federal rules, as the federal and provincial loan programs were amalgamated earlier this year.
The first amendment allows underage students to get a loan without a signing guarantor. The second amendment eliminated non-sufficient fund fees, which are usually applied if your account is overdrawn when paying back your student loans.
Despite the changes, the program still has a lot of shortcomings, according to Jeremy McElroy, president of the UBC student union, the Alma Mater Society (AMS).
“It’s great that [students] can now apply for funding independently at the age of 18, and I’m glad they’re no longer penalizing students for being in situations of financial need,” says McElroy. “But there is still a lot of work to do with the program and we’ve got all kinds of ideas for that.”
McElroy says the AMS is lobbying to also change the expectation that parents should be paying for students’ university fees and tuition.
“We’re asking for reduction and ultimate elimination of expected parental contribution,” he says.
Another issue the AMS is tackling is how liquid assets are evaluated. “Right now, if a student owns a car that is worth more than $5,000, they are expected to sell that car or have $5,000 removed from how much they’re eligible for for student loans,” says McElroy. “Those of our students who commute in from Abbotsford, Mission, and Chilliwack, they either have to sell their car, go to school somewhere completely different, or not go to school at all.”
Brittany Manson, an international relations student on student loans at UBC, welcomes the changes.
“When I first tried to apply it was kind of difficult… especially if you don’t get a lot of support from your parents,” says Manson. “You should be able to get the funding you need to go to university, so I think it’s awesome.”